Lou Pickney's Online Commentary
The FCC
Thursday
January 29, 2004
(Note: This column is my opinion, and mine only, and does not necessarily represent the views of the Bubba The Love Sponge® show, the Bubba Radio Network®, Clear Channel Communications or any of its stations or employees.)
It's been quiet on here lately. I'm aware of that. Two days ago (Tuesday afternoon) I was all set to write a long, sprawling column about random points of interest involving life, love, video games and the NFL playoffs after I got home from work. But then, at about 4 PM Eastern, I read this e-mail from my former WTSP co-worker,
Ned Roberts:
From: Roberts, Ned
Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 2004 3:47 PM
To: Lou Pickney
Subject: Trying to reach Bubba
Lou,
Ned Roberts here from Ch. 10. Hope you're well.
We're trying to reach Bubba (or someone with the show) with regard to the FCC's proposed $755,000 fine against Clearchannel and the show.
We're working on the story for tonight. Thanks!
Ned
I read the e-mail, quite puzzled. "What fine?" I wondered to myself. This was certainly news to me. So I headed to Google's news search page.
Doing a search for "Bubba The Love Sponge", I quickly found out the horrifying news. The FCC, in a move so transparently political as to be downright sickening, fined four stations that were affiliates of Bubba's in 2001 for what the FCC claims was material that was "indecent" and in violation of "local community standards."
Here's a little secret for those of you who aren't up to speed with the rules of the Federal Communications Commission: there are NO RULES OR GUIDELINES in place to demonstrate what does and doesn't constitute indecent broadcasts. It's a crapshoot, and one that gives the FCC to essentially write a blank check to itself by means of whatever station (or stations) it chooses to fine.
There are some cases that are beyond defense: to point, the Opie & Anthony "Sex For Sam 3" incident in August 2002 where the show actually solicited a pair of listeners to have sex in St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. The couple was caught, the show kicked off of WNEW (and Westwood One, its distribution company) and its syndication run ended.
But here's the thing: the FCC fined Infinity Broadcasting (WNEW's parent company) and all of the Infinity affiliates that carried that show for the "Sex For Sam 3" incident. But they didn't fine the non-Infinity affiliates. Think about that for a second. Styles Media, which at that time owned WXXM/WXXF (a "Hot Talk" simulcast in New Orleans), was not fined. To this date, I have not yet seen any justification or rationale given for why the non-Infinity stations weren't touched.
I suspect the reason is this: Infinity (aka CBS/Viacom) is a huge corporation, one that can take a fine in the million dollar range and survive. Ditto for Clear Channel. The FCC doesn't want to come across as a bully, but they want to seem "tough on content" (thanks to self-righteous politicians who are pandering for the elderly and holy-roller vote by going after content in the media). They hit Infinity two years ago with the O&A deal, leaving Clear Channel as the biggest dog left in the bunch. The FCC, on the eve of the Congressional sub-committee hearings on indecency in broadcasting, then levied the fine on CC... for content all dating back to 2001. Three years ago!
Now the smug Michael Powell can say, "Look, we tried to fine them, but we just don't have enough power... We need to be able to fine them even more, and to pull licenses!" Suddenly the FCC becomes a ridiculously powerful force, a Big Brother monster in DC that cares not about local community standards (more on that in a minute) but instead about wielding power over every major media outlet in America. Congress is happy, as they can look like they're doing what's "right for this country" in the typical Washington pandering way.
I've talked with Bubba about this issue many, many times, both before and after the incident. Bubba is very aware of the importance of staying within the guidelines of the FCC, whatever they may be, and he strives to do that. Yes, his show is edgy and it is certainly not for everyone. But how can Bubba stay within the rules when there are no rules to begin with? And it's not just Bubba, but everyone from Elliot to
Lex & Terry to
Howard Stern to
Mancow to Joe Jabrone working his first shift at
WUEV in Evansville.
If there's anything positive to come of this, my hope is that this will lead to actual guidelines being drawn up for broadcasters to be able to abide by, whatever they may be. Give them the rules so they'll know what they can and can't do. Otherwise, it's like calling a player for clipping in football when there's not a specific rule on the books about it (just one for arbitrary "offensive actions" on the field.)
And as for the issue of local community standards, how can a complaint launched out of Jacksonville (which is where this one came from) be applied to not only Jacksonville, but also Tampa, Ft. Myers AND West Palm?!? If complaints were not registered from those three cities, does that mean that one person (and I do mean ONE PERSON) in Jacksonville's complaining casts judgment over what constitutes local community standards in three other cities?
I can't elaborate on what is planned as far as counteracting the politically motivated attack by the FCC, but I'm confident that Bubba's show will continue going strong. The ratings back from Tampa, Orlando and Jacksonville have all been very strong for Fall 2003. We get Macon on Monday, and hope to see breakouts soon from Ft. Myers (even though we were only on there a portion of the book -- though I know the numbers took a nice jump up from what I've heard so far). Bubba's show works, it's compelling, it's something that communities as a whole seem to find acceptable to listen to. And that, in my opinion, is the ultimate test of local community standards...
(Click here to read the official FCC fine proposal.)
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